The magistrate also revealed that two key figures in the case had been charged.

The latter have pleaded guilty and are collaborating with the government, which means that they could incriminate Sam Bankman-Fried.

"Sam Bankman-Fried is under FBI authority and on his way to the United States," Damian Williams said in a video posted on Twitter.

"He will be taken directly to the Southern District of (the State of) New York", a jurisdiction which includes Manhattan, "and he will be brought before a judge as soon as possible", announced the federal prosecutor.

Earlier Wednesday, Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to be extradited to the United States during a hearing in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.

An ambulance and members of security are parked at an airport entrance near Nassau ahead of a police convoy arriving, reportedly carrying FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on December 21, 2022 © Kris INGRAHAM / AFP

At the hearing, he expressed his "desire to ensure that the customers concerned get their money back", according to the Wall Street Journal.

Conflicting versions

The Manhattan federal prosecutor also announced Wednesday that Caroline Ellison, former boss of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, have been charged "in connection with their role in the fraud that contributed to the collapse. of FTX", without giving more details.

Asked by AFP as to the charges, the Manhattan federal prosecutor's office did not respond.

According to the Wall Street Journal, both were charged with fraud, while only Caroline Ellison was charged with criminal association.

Alameda Research is the company that Sam Bankman-Fried used, according to the indictment, to carry out risky transactions with billions of dollars in funds deposited by clients on the FTX platform, without their having been informed. informed.

Since the bankruptcy of FTX on November 11, Sam Bankman-Fried has repeatedly argued publicly that he had not been at the helm of Alameda Research for several months, indirectly incriminating Caroline Ellison.

Federal prosecutor Damian Williams holds a press conference to announce the indictment of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, in New York on December 13, 2022 © Ed JONES / AFP

An argument disputed by the prosecution, which claims that "SBF" remained the main decision maker within Alameda until the filing for bankruptcy of FTX.

Once the New York magistrate has served him with the charges against him, the former darling of the cryptocurrency world should be placed in detention in New York, pending trial.

Until last year, defendants in pretrial detention who depended on the Manhattan federal court were housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), located on the southern tip of the island.

But the site closed in 2021, officially temporarily.

He had been the subject of repeated complaints alleging unsanitary conditions of detention.

His reputation had also been tarnished by the suicide, in August 2019, in an MCC cell, of Jeffrey Epstein, accused of having created and maintained a pedophile network.

Sam Bankman-Fried could therefore be sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, also decried for its lack of staff and questionable management of prisoners.

Arrested on December 12 in Nassau, Sam Bankman-Fried was already in detention in the Bahamas.

Apart from risky transactions through Alameda, he is also suspected of having invested some of this money in real estate in the Bahamas.

He is also accused of having made donations to Democratic politicians – always from funds from FTX clients – in particular Joe Biden during his presidential campaign.

Illustrative photo featuring the FTX logo and its reflection on a computer screen displaying its website, in Washington, November 13, 2022 © Stefani Reynolds / AFP

Five of the eight charges against him each provide for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The one who has long been seen as an iconoclastic genius of cryptocurrencies is therefore likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang have also been sued for a civil dispute by the two main US financial market regulators, the SEC and the CFTC.

They pledged to cooperate with the SEC, and acknowledged the facts attributed to them by the CFTC, which should earn them, in both cases, a more lenient judgment.

The CFTC estimates the total amount of funds misappropriated from FTX client accounts to be $8 billion.

© 2022 AFP